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- Beat the deadline: The deadline for making a contribution to a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) that can be deducted on your 2010 tax return is March 1, 2011.
- Know your limit: The maximum annual dollar limit for RRSP contributions in 2010 is $22,000.
- Over the limit rules: Contributions up to $2,000 in excess of RRSP limits can be made without being subject to a penalty tax.
A friend of mine recently gave me a great tip for passing along books on your shelf that you’ve already read. Rather than them sitting and collecting dust, a really fun way to give them away is to do a book exchange with friends and family. Have a get- together and have everyone bring a book they have already read that’s sitting on their bookshelf. Have them wrap it up like a present.
Next, have everyone draw a number and the person with number 1 gets to choose their gift and then they open it. Number 2 then can either select their own gift, or they can steal number 1’s gift, and so on. If your gift gets stolen, then you get to choose and open another gift. This goes on until all the books have been unwrapped. The benefit to being number 1 is that at the very end you get to choose what book you want most.
There are times when it makes sense for parents (who can afford it) to lend money to their adult children to help with post secondary education, a down payment on a home, etc. However, this isn’t always the best idea and it’s important to really discuss things thoroughly before making a decision.
Every parent wants to be able to help their children, no matter what their age, however, at a certain point it is important for children to become financially independent. If parents continuously bail their kids out when they overspend, they are not helping their children at all. Why? Because their kids need to learn that there are consequences for being irresponsible with their money. Kids will never learn this if Mommy and Daddy always foot the bill when they make a mistake.
Although very few people ever do experience winning a big lottery jackpot, it is always interesting to see what people decide to do with their winnings. It is extremely interesting when people give most of their winnings away.
A recent Yahoo! Article talks about a special couple from a small town in Nova Scotia who generously gave away all but about 2% of their $11.2 million winnings. Their names are Allen and Violet Large and I think their last name truly depicts their personality. They certainly are large in the spirit of generosity.
